above  CH’IEN  THE CREATIVE, HEAVEN below  CH’IEN  THE CREATIVE, HEAVEN The first hexagram is made up of six unbroken lines. These unbroken lines stand for the primal power, which is light-giving, active, strong, and of the spirit. The hexagram is...

above  K’UN  THE RECEPTIVE, EARTH below  K’UN  THE RECEPTIVE, EARTH This hexagram is made up of broken lines only. The broken lines represents the dark, yielding, receptive primal power of yin. The attribute of the hexagram is devotion; its image is the...

above  KêN  KEEPING STILL, MOUNTAIN below  K’AN  THE ABYSMAL, WATER Youthful folly is the natural extension of difficulty at the beginning. Whenever we venture into the unknown or new circumstance we are vulnerable to the folly of our own inexperience. In this...

above  K’AN  THE ABYSMAL, WATER below  CH’IEN  THE CREATIVE, HEAVEN All beings have need of nourishment from above. But the gift of food comes in its own time, and for this one must wait. this hexagram shows the clouds in the heavens, giving rain to...

above  CH’IEN  THE CREATIVE, HEAVEN below  K’AN  THE ABYSMAL, WATER The upper trigram, whose image is heaven, has an upward movement; the lower trigram, water, in accordance with its nature tends downward. Thus the two halves move away from each other,...

above K’UN THE RECEPTIVE, EARTH below K’AN THE ABYSMAL, WATER this hexagram is made up of the trigrams K’an, water, and K’un, earth, and thus it symbolizes the ground water stored up in the earth. In the same way military strength is stored up...

above  K’AN  THE ABYSMAL, WATER below  K’UN  THE RECEPTIVE, EARTH The waters on the surface of the earth flow together wherever they can, as for example in the ocean, where all the rivers come together. Symbolically this connotes holding together and the...

above  SUN  THE GENTLE, WIND below  CH’IEN  THE CREATIVE, HEAVEN this hexagram means the force of the small–the power of the shadowy–that restrains, tames, impedes. A weak line in the fourth place, that of the minister, holds the five strong lines in...

above  CH’IEN  THE CREATIVE, HEAVEN below  TUI  THE JOYOUS, LAKE The name of the hexagram means on the one hand the right way of conducting oneself. Heaven, the father, is above, and the lake, the youngest daughter, is below. this shows the difference between...